World Table Tennis (WTT), launching in 2021 as the new commercial and events business of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), is building a future-proofed digital video archive with intuitive video management platform Imagen, to preserve decades of historic sporting moments.

6,000 hours of exclusive match footage, including more than 9,000 matches spanning as far back as the 1930s, have been digitised and uploaded to Imagen’s intuitive platform, allowing for an ease of access that had seemed unimaginable when the original hard drives and tapes had been discovered last year.

With no live table tennis events taking place in recent months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an even greater need to show past matches. Imagen’s platform will house all future international table tennis matches once the action gets underway again, helping to safeguard both the history and future of the sport and prepare for an agile future rather than a stopgap during a global crisis.

“Through Imagen, we have rediscovered footage of iconic sporting moments that have never been seen by today’s generation of table tennis fans. As well as ensuring that the evolution of this international sport is captured forever, this partnership has helped us to keep our media channels lively with content even during the global pandemic. 95% of video content now originates from Imagen’s platform.” – Joachim Davy, Creative Director, WTT

“While Imagen’s platform served the technological requirements of WTT, the project was made possible by a truly collaborative partnership. Imagen and WTT both set out clear goals from the outset of the project, enabling Imagen to ensure the delivery of a fit-for-purpose solution.” – Tom Wild, Senior Account Manager, Imagen

Crucially, the platform will allow WTT to monetise video content more effectively, providing a valuable source of revenue for the sport. Key matches and moments from the digital archive will be shared and distributed to broadcasters and editors around the globe. While some content will be restricted to premium access for both media and fans, other sporting highlights will be made public to all lovers of the sport on WTT’s social media platforms. The digitised content is already enabling the WTT media and marketing team to populate the organisation’s social media channels and keep fans of all ages engaged and entertained across platforms.

Table Tennis fans from around the world will be able now to replay and relive classic moments in sporting history, such as:

• When Jan-Ove Waldner spearheaded Sweden to serial success towards the end of the 20th Century.
• The very beginning when Europe was the dominant force in table tennis before Japan took centre-stage in the 1950s and then China from the 1960s.
• How Ma Long “The Dragon” roared his way to three consecutive World Singles Championships titles with his latest victory in 2019.
• Liu Shiwen ending her 10-year wait, in 2019, to triumph at table tennis’ biggest annual event.
• Werner Schlager’s epic run in 2003 to become the last European to be crowned World Champion.
• …and much more!

For media partners interested in obtaining access to the archive, please contact us at [email protected].

For more information about Imagen’s intuitive video management platform, please contact Roxanne Kingsman at [email protected].

About WTT

Putting players and fans at the very heart of its mission, WTT was set up by the ITTF in August 2019 to modernise its commercial business activities and realise the full potential of table tennis in order to compete among the highest-profile sports in the world. WTT will start running events from 2021.

About Imagen

Imagen is an intuitive video management platform that enables sports organisations, media companies and enterprise organisations to intelligently manage their video content with enhanced functionality, control and insight. Imagen is being used by global organisations to manage and distribute their expanding video and media libraries, enabling fast, easy, secure and controlled access to content through its highly customisable platform. Imagen’s customers include Major League Baseball, William Morris Beverly Hills, the English Premier League, Women’s Tennis Association, Reuters, BBC and IMG.